The End of Nablopomo

On November 30, 2012 · 4 Comments · In nablopomo

I committed to participating in Nablopomo at the beginning of the month, and well, here we are at the end.

Thank goodness.

I definitely started to lose my steam the last week or so. And I may have cheated a few times (catching up on/finishing a few posts in a day, and leaning on a giveaway for a couple of posts), but shhhhhh. The important part is that I actually composed a blog post for every day in November. Thirty days, and thirty posts. Phew.

Blogging with any sort of regularity is hard, but blogging every day is a whole ‘nother animal. For those who do it on a normal basis, I give you major, major credit. A fellow blogger posted on Twitter today that she has all of her posts planned for the month of December. I am supremely jealous, because I’m just not that organized.

The hardest part for me was definitely coming up with things to write about. And although I had high hopes for the prompts at first, I just couldn’t get into them. To make myself write every day is one thing, but to force myself to write about a pre-determined topic is completely different. It was too forced.

Before Nora, I used to write pretty often—usually 20+ posts a month—but then that number started dwindling after her birth, and well, if you look at my archives in the right sidebar, you’ll see that my average has fallen. I do the best that I can.

It was fun to challenge myself but I’m glad that it’s over. It’s not that I’m going anywhere, it’s just that things will likely slow to a more manageable pace around here. Yay.

Overall, it was just a long month, wasn’t it? It didn’t really seem like it while we were living it, but looking back… Election Day seems like AGES AGO. Our trip to Virginia—how was that only three weeks ago? Impossible.

Thanks to all of you who have left me comments this month (well, and always). They helped carry me through. :) Are we ready to welcome December?

 

The Polar Express

On November 29, 2012 · 2 Comments · In books, holidays, nora

Last year, Nora received a copy of The Polar Express in a children’s holiday book exchange I participated in with some friends. At that time, she wouldn’t even let me read it to her.

A few weeks ago, we ordered some Christmas movies to add to our (very small) Blu-ray collection. One of them was The Polar Express. Our nephews are into it, so we thought maybe Nora would like it, too. It arrived on the night before Thanksgiving, so on Thanksgiving morning, when she got bored with the parade, we turned it on for her.

She was into it.

After that Nora requested to watch The Polar Express every morning over the Thanksgiving weekend. She doesn’t make it through the whole thing—her standard attention span for such things is still only 20-30 minutes in most cases—but she liked it a lot. So one night, while I was putting her to bed, I broke out the book. I showed her the “choo choo” on the cover, and I cracked it open. She immediately tried to close it. But I forced the issue a little and once she realized that this was actually a GOOD book, she let me read it. I skip over some of the lines on the pages with a lot of copy, but read enough for her to get the gist.

And now she is in love with the book.

She went from calling it “choo choo” to “pwess book” (express book). She likes to carry it around and look at the pictures, and wants to read it every night at bedtime.

I love Christmas.

 

P.S. She is also TOTALLY IN LOVE with this random book that we got from the library—Happy Holidogs.

It’s just the “12 Days of Christmas” song, but with dogs instead of all of the other random objects that the true love gives to me. :) “On the first day of Christmas, Santa gave to me… 1 pup under the Christmas tree…” and so on. It’s tedious to sing the whole thing, but Nora LOVES it. It’s only been a week and she seriously knows a lot of the words to the song and sings along. I think she might lose her mind when we have to return it to the library. Eeek!

 

Call Me Chicken

On November 28, 2012 · 19 Comments · In nablopomo, nora

More than two months ago, I wrote about how I thought perhaps it was time to transition Nora out of her crib. She was being a beast to get out of bed in the morning, and one of my theories was that perhaps—in a fit of trying to be more independent—she was frustrated with the fact that she couldn’t get out of her crib by herself.

I should’ve known not to theorize. At Nora’s 2-year appointment, our pediatrician even told us, “Do NOT try to understand why she does things.” In other words, it meant nothing. It was a phase.

And regarding the switch… well, it never happened. I chickened out.

It’s hard to mess with a good thing. It has not escaped me, however, that this is a transition that we do eventually have to make. Just like we broke her of the swaddle before we probably really needed to. Just like we nixed the pacifier at 11 months, cold turkey. But I am torn about how we want to make this particular change.

For one, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Nora never figures out and/or attempts to climb out of it. She’s a really cautious child—not one to climb, jump, or take many risks. So the “wait until she climbs out” philosophy doesn’t really seem to fit for our family, though I suppose she could surprise me. I know I want to move her—and I would even go so far as saying that I think that if we were to do it right now, the transition would go well. Of course, I don’t know that for sure, but the only thing I’m really worried about is her falling out of bed. She still moves around A LOT in there.

But my biggest point of internal debate is whether we should wait until we’re ready to put her in a BIG bed—a full or a twin. Her crib is convertible to a toddler bed, but I guess I’m thinking, do we really want to make a transition twice? However, the toddler bed seems like a natural step, a change that is more gradual than ripping her from a crib and putting her straight into a big bed. Because honestly, it’s THAT transition that I’m most scared of.

At daycare, Nora apparently naps on a mat on the floor. ON A MAT. ON THE FLOOR. With no restrictions, nothing keeping her in there. I cannot wrap my head around this. NO COMPRENDE. I just cannot see how that is actually successful, but Mary swears that it is. So apparently our girl is a little more adaptable than I give her credit for? And I do give her credit, don’t get me wrong.

Let’s say that we do choose to make this transition in the very near future. Do we give her a pillow? How do we try to “train” her to sleep on one end of the bed without flopping back and forth and sideways and rolling all around? Is it something she just has to learn by literally falling out a few times? And if they do fall out, what do you do? Do they cry, does it take them a long time to go back to sleep?

Another question is… what do you do when you travel? We’re going to California in January and if we make the transition to a toddler bed before then, what do we do there? We’re staying with a friend so we won’t have access to a pack ‘n’ play or anything else unless we rent it.

I’m just… really conflicted. Any advice?

 

Your Favorite Blogs

On November 27, 2012 · 16 Comments · In nablopomo, other blogs

I’ve been somewhat involved in the world of blogging for YEARS now. I started reading my very first blog (and it wasn’t even called a blog back then) in 2004. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned about blogs since then, it’s this: They come and go.

The act of blogging can be difficult, because it’s a commitment—just one more thing to add to life’s never-ending to-do list. Inspiration doesn’t always come easy. The motivation is not always there.

Over the years, I’ve seen some of my favorite blogs fall silent. And although I’m always sad to see that happen, I understand it because I’ve thought about quitting my fair share of times over the years. I’ll usually keep the quiet blogs in my Google Reader, just in case they ever decide to come back.

Recently, though, I went through my Google Reader and did a clean-up. I removed blogs written by those who have long since abandoned them. And then I started looking at the ones that remained. Some of them had 20-30+ posts sitting there, unread by me. I wondered why that was. For some reason, I wasn’t compelled to read them anymore.

The thing is: Life changes. Our interests and priorities change. I no longer have the time to spend hours in the kitchen baking up delicious desserts. New dinner recipes have to be quick and easy in order to make it into our rotation and onto our plates. And sometimes, the blogs or bloggers themselves change as well. Maybe my interests no longer align with that particular person’s.

Whatever the reason, I had to make myself LET THEM GO.

I’ve come to realize that I’ve picked up very few new blogs over the years. Most of the ones I read regularly, I’ve been loyal to for a long time. I’ve tried out new ones for size, but many of them end up falling by the wayside in my reader and I ultimately unsubscribe from them as well. But I love a lot of blogs. I love having blogger friends. And I know there have to be blogs—real gems—that I don’t even know about.

So I ask all of you: What are your favorite blogs? Who do you read first when new posts pop up in your reader? Who do you “check in on” most often? And why?

 

Elf on the Shelf

On November 26, 2012 · 10 Comments · In holidays, nablopomo

Call it a Black Friday impulse purchase.

We were at Target on Friday evening to pick up a few odds and ends. This was way after the Black Friday madness had ended. The store looked like a war zone: There was stuff EVERYWHERE. Some shelves were picked clean. We were passing by the electronics/books section when I saw it on an endcap—ELF ON THE SHELF.

Michael and I had discussed Elf on the Shelf before, and whether we wanted to start the tradition with Nora this year or next. We debated whether it was something she would understand this year. Thought maybe we should wait until next year, but weren’t sure.

But there they were—elves, both boys and girls, and they were on SALE. Well, $29.95 with a “free” $5 Target gift card with purchase. So effectively $24.95. We took the opportunity to snag one.

We haven’t started yet, though. I’m kind of intimidated actually. To have to come up with ideas of where to put him, and to have Nora search for him every morning. And I’m still not 100% sure she’ll get it. She likely won’t understand that we have to name him, or that she can’t touch him. So then I think… should we just hold onto it until next year?

What say you, fellow parents? Do you have an Elf on the Shelf? If so, at what age were your kids when he/she came into your home? Did your child understand? Was it worthwhile?